The Most Memorable Pop-Music Moments of 2016

The Virginia rapper D.R.A.M.’s rise to No. 1 with his song “Broccoli” was among the most memorable pop-music moments of 2016.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY YOUTUBE

The Return of Bad-Boy Bieber (and Post Malone)

Did anyone believe him when he said he was sorry? Bieber’s protracted public repentance must have tuckered the poor guy out, because he spent most of this year sliding back into lackadaisical petulance. He stumbled through his “Purpose” tour with the enthusiasm of a rag doll; his singing and dancing efforts seemed like the minimum required to cash his checks.

And yet there was a flash of vitality to be found in the Biebs this year, in his budding friendship with the singer/rapper Post Malone. A twenty-one-year-old Texan who often sports braids and ill-advised gold teeth, Malone is what Bieber might have been if he’d never been made to bear the burden of tween mega-fame: proudly scuzzy, wearing his hip-hop influences on his sleeve, unencumbered by constraints of genre or respectability. Bieber’s Black Swan, essentially. Together they got into some wholesome mischief, roughhousing and joking in public in a way that made Bieber’s disobedience feel charmingly juvenile rather than worrisome. Bonus: we got a delectable song out of it.

Vengeance for D.R.A.M.

Raise a toast to D.R.A.M., the affable Virginia rapper whose 2016 brought some profound poetic justice. After falling victim to an epic instance of Drake’s bigfooting—D.R.A.M.’s song “Cha Cha” was partially recycled for Drake’s colossal hit “Hotline Bling”—he managed to score a hit of his own. “Broccoli,” a sing-songy little dollop of joy, eventually rose to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, in September—just in front of Drake’s “Too Good.” Another showdown will take place at the Grammys, where both “Broccoli” and “Hotline Bling” have been nominated in the Best Rap/Sung Performance category. Drake is favored to win, but D.R.A.M. shouldn’t fret. He’s already accomplished something far more difficult: chipping away at the industry’s most invincible star.

Russell Westbrook’s Lil Uzi Vert Moment

The N.B.A. star Russell Westbrook has sternly resisted talking about his estranged ex-teammate Kevin Durant, whose defection from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors this year cruelly dissolved one of sports’ most beloved unions. Still, Westbrook has found a way to express his feelings: by lip-syncing and dancing to the music of the Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert. It’s almost like Lil Uzi wrote “Do What I Want” (“Everybody know I’m better, yeah / Yeah I’m better, yeah / It don’t matter, ay, Pocket fatter, aye / Nowadays I’m on my haters they got sadder, ay”) just so that Westbrook could use it as a subliminal message in this Jordan Brand sneaker commercial.

Beyoncé’s Tribute to Shawty Lo and the Evolution of “Diva”

“Lemonade” forged a path forward for an entire industry, breaking down barriers of genre, format, and promotional tactics; it also allowed us to experience Beyoncé’s old work with fresh eyes. In her recent live shows, Beyoncé has resurfaced her minor 2008 hit “Diva,” mashing up the song’s mean stutter beat with a rotating roster of tracks, usually something hot off Billboard's Hip-Hop/R. & B. chart. After the death of the beloved rapper Shawty Lo, she used “Diva” to deliver a tribute at her show in Atlanta, the rapper’s home town, seamlessly fusing the track with his song “Dey Know.” As the crowd became overcome with emotion, Beyoncé didn’t miss a beat. She’s an artist who seems to be sealed off from the rest of the world, but “Diva” shows us just how carefully she is watching and listening.

Kanye Dances

Weeks before Kanye West spouted his support for Trump and ended up hospitalized—and then met with the President-elect at Trump Tower—his mania fuelled a more welcome eruption. Typically disconnected from the Internet’s viral currents, and loathe to hop on any bandwagon, West still couldn’t resist trying to hit dem folks—the dance of the year, made popular by a pair of impossibly precise teen dancers from Georgia named Meechie and Quan. (The pair have become so influential that the soundtracks to their dance videos can help seal a song’s success.) West, a much better rapper than dancer, tried the routine onstage during his Pablo tour this fall, but his limbs seemed not to respond to the commands his brain provided. For a few moments, West was not a volatile creative; he was just a guy trying to imitate something cool he’d seen in a video.

Future, the Real Rock Star

It’s become customary for rappers to declare themselves rock stars. Among a new generation of hip-hop insurgents, Marilyn Manson is cited as a creative touchstone just as frequently as Jay Z. The rock-star thing tends to be more spiritual than sonic, but when Future performed on “Saturday Night Live,” in March, he went whole hog, using a live band to deliver a hard-rock rendition of his maximalist rap anthem “March Madness.” May 2017 bring the shred.

XXL Freshman Cypher

Anyone who needs a dose of optimism about the future would do well to watch this XXL Freshman Cypher video featuring a crop of the year’s most talented, irreverent, and hyperactive new rap stars.

Carrie Battan began contributing to The New Yorker in 2015, and became a staff writer in 2018.